


wide awake

by sinnerlikeme



Series: daisybucky. [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Feelings, Friendship, Love, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 23:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13018569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinnerlikeme/pseuds/sinnerlikeme
Summary: his voice is muted, dull from exhaustion, but daisy hears the humor in it anyway. she laughs, and the sound is like a burst of sunshine in the middle of the night.





	wide awake

**Author's Note:**

> i just lov them a heck of a lot

It’s quarter past two in the morning, but Daisy is wide awake.

Perhaps it’s the bright fluorescent lights above her, illuminating everything around her. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, yet to leave her system. Or it’s the simple fact she’s eating a really damn good pie. 

Across from her, slumped in his chair, Bucky looks completely out of it. He chews slowly, contemplatively, blue eyes staring out the window unseeingly. Daisy is silent, respectfully so, wanting to give him a moment’s peace. 

He’ll talk if he wants to. But she’s used to the brooding. 

Bucky only falls victim to the torrential noise of his mind in the presence of others when he deeply trusts them. He’s aware Daisy is near, he could bump her boot with his if he wanted to. (Just to make sure.) He knows she’d listen if it became too difficult to keep it all in, and wouldn’t repeat a word. There’s something bigger than trust between them and he needs her in a way he can’t define even to himself. He wonders vaguely if she feels it, too. 

Daisy finishes her last bite and wipes her mouth with her sleeve. The motion grabs Bucky’s attention, and he notices his slice is also gone. He sighs, setting down the fork he hadn’t realized he was still holding. He’s so tired he cannot feel the effects of sleep deprivation anymore; doubled with dissociation, he’s numb.

“You good?” she murmurs, watching his gaze gloss over again. 

“Hm?” Her voice—as always—tugs him gently back to the present. She reiterates her question and he shrugs slightly, too fatigued to make an effort. She nudges her foot against his sympathetically, and he grins softly. Daisy leans into her chair, arms folded, keeping the toe of her dusty boot pressed to his.

She senses the waitress occasionally tossing them curious, probably wary glances, and doesn’t blame her—she likely rarely serves customers who come in bearing bruises, cuts on their faces, tack gear suits covered in soot and grime. She’s also never seen a guy with a metal hand before. (She has no clue the rest is under Bucky’s sleeve.) But she was sweet and didn’t pry, though she did offer to let them use the diner’s much-needed first aid kit. 

The young woman eventually gathers the courage to return to their table to clear it, and Daisy smiles her thanks.

The waitress hesitates, plates in hands, then whispers very quietly, “Is he okay?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Daisy assures her with a nod. “Just a…long day at the office.”

Bucky, who she thought wasn’t listening, snorts a little. The waitress giggles out of necessity and leaves them be.

“An office job would be nice,” Bucky muses several minutes later, a delayed thought. 

Daisy chuckles. “I’m sure filing has an open spot somewhere,” she teases, and he scoffs. 

“I’d never get to see you, then,” he protests, feigning a pout. “I take that back. An office job would suck.”

His voice is muted, dull from exhaustion, but Daisy hears the humor in it anyway. She laughs, and the sound is like a burst of sunshine in the middle of the night. It’s like pie at two AM after a grueling three-day mission. It’s like those seventy long years were worth it in the end, if surviving them meant he could be here with her now, sitting in a chair at a diner somewhere in the Midwest. It’s like if true love had a sound.

Bucky’s eyes gleam with fondness the longer she laughs, more delirious than anything, but it’s cute and he wouldn’t give it up for an entire day of rest. _This_ , his subconscious mutters, _this is why I’m still here._  

He’ll harbor the warmth in his icy chest that blooms from her laughter for a bit longer. Even if Daisy herself isn’t his, at least he has that sound. Nobody can take that away from him, the feeling he gets when he hears her laugh. That’s his and his alone. One day he’ll share that with her. For now he’s content to savor it.

It’s quarter past two in the morning, and Bucky is wide awake.


End file.
